Spanish city renames square in Clash frontman's honour

Granada remembers Joe Strummer

The Spanish city of Granada will honour the late Joe Strummer by renaming a city square after The Clash frontman.

The rebranding comes after 2,000 residents backed a Facebook campaign to celebrate the punk rocker's connection with Granada, where he fled as legendary British band The Clash fell apart in 1984.

Granada City Council's Daniel Galan told the BBC: "The initiative came from a neighbourhood association, backed by some political parties and was approved. It was a popular movement. It is very well known the connection between Joe and the city and people still remember him."

Strummer's relationship Spain began back in the 1970s, when he first visited Granada with his then girlfriend Paloma Romero, who later became the drummer of The Slits, under the nom de rock Palmolive.

His interest in Andalucia, the celebrated poet Federico García Lorca and the Spanish Civil War is reflected in the classic Spanish bombs, from 1979's London Calling. During his later self-imposed exile, Strummer hooked up with Granada punk band 091, producing their 1986 album Más de 100 lobos (More than 100 wolves).

Galan said: "Joe Strummer loved Granada. He loved the whole of Spain but he had a very good connection with Granada because he was friends with 091."

Strummer's time on the run in 1984-5 forms the basis of Brit filmmaker Nick Hall's I need a Dodge! The title is a reference to a now-lost silver-grey Dodge 3700 GT the musician abandoned in garage somewhere in Madrid before his return to the UK. ®